Blue Devils Fall, 1-0, to Stanford in NCAA College Cup

Friday, December 5

Kansas City, Mo.

8:45 p.m.

Duke University

17-5-1, 7-3-0

Stanford

21-1-2, 9-0-1

Duke

Stanford

Photo by: Lathe Cobb

Blue Devils Fall, 1-0, to Stanford in NCAA College Cup

12/6/2025 12:17:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The 2025 Duke women's soccer season came to an end Friday at the NCAA College Cup as the second-seeded Blue Devils dropped a 1-0 decision to top-ranked Stanford at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City.

The Blue Devils were shutout for the first time this season as Duke concluded the year with an impressive 17-5-1 ledger under first year head coach Kieran Hall. Hall is just the third coach in NCAA history to lead his team to the NCAA College Cup in their first season as head coach.

How It Happened

Duke freshman Jocelyn Travers had the first good look of the match in the seventh minute as she drove into the box and her left-footed attempt just missed the far post.
Stanford then took advantage of a free kick just outside the box as Jasmine Aikey bent a free kick inside the near post to give the Cardinal a 1-0 lead at the 9:02 mark.
The Blue Devils nearly evened the ledger in the 20th minute as junior Mia Oliaro served in a great ball where senior Devin Lynch who used her body to send the ball over to junior Mia Minestrella's, who's point-blank attempt was saved by Stanford keeper Caroline Birkel.
Senior Julia Saunicheva came off the bench and added a couple of attempts, which were saved and blocked.
At the end of the first 45 minutes, both teams featured six shot attempts.The Blue Devils had 54 percent of the possession of the first half.
Duke sophomore goalkeeper Caroline Dysart came up big to start the second half as Stanford's Charlotte Kohler got in front of the Duke defense off a deflection, but Dysart was there for her first save of the night at the 47:21 mark.
Freshman Avery Oder had Duke's first shot attempt for Duke in the second half, but it went high.
Oliaro came up big with a team save off the goal line on a Stanford corner kick at the 58:11 mark to keep the Cardinal off the board.
Stanford continued to pepper the Duke goal with three shots in a row off a corner kick, but the Blue Devils had two team saves and one save by Dysart to stay strong.
The Cardinal attempted 15 out of the first 17 shots in the second half, until redshirt junior Kat Rader had an attempt that was blocked.
Rader's attempt led to a corner kick where Travers fired in a ball to a streaking senior Carina Lageyre, but her attempt sailed just over the crossbar.
For the match, Stanford held a 23-11 shot advantage with Saunicheva, Lageyre and Rader leading the way with two each.

Notes

Stanford's goal at the 9:02 mark snapped streak of 371:02 minutes without allowing a goal by the Duke defense.
Duke snapped a streak of nine matches in a row scoring in the first half.
Over the last four appearances in the NCAA College Cup, Duke has been shutout in each of those contests.
Duke is 0-2 against Stanford in the NCAA College Cup as the Blue Devils dropped 1-0 decisions in 2011 and 2025.
Of Duke's five losses on the season, four of those came against teams that were ranked No. 1 at one point during the year.
Mia Minestrella was limited to only one shot after scoring six goals over the previous four NCAA Tournament contests.
Duke is set to graduate Kat Rader, Devin Lynch, Julia Saunicheva, Taylor Evans, Carina Lageyre, Farrah Walters, but returns a key nucleus for 2026.Both Rader and Evans have redshirt seasons remaining.